Lord's Resistance Army leader is offered amnesty by Uganda

Uganda has offered a "total amnesty" to the rebel warlord Joseph Kony, who was indicted by the international criminal court last year for crimes against humanity. The government offered the amnesty in exchange for Kony abandoning the civil war he has waged for the past 19 years, in which his Lord's Resistance Army has slaughtered civilians and abducted thousands of children to serve as fighters and sex slaves.

The offer is seen as an olive branch ahead of peace talks between the government and the LRA, due to begin in Sudan next week.

Last October the ICC issued arrest warrants for five LRA commanders, including Kony. The warrants are believed to have raised tensions in northern Uganda and may have driven attacks by the rebels which targeted foreigners.

"President Yoweri Museveni has declared that the Uganda government will grant total amnesty to the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, despite the international criminal court indictment," the presidential press secretary, Onapito Ekomoloit, said in a statement.

Mr Museveni blamed the UN for failing to arrest the rebel leader, although Uganda's armed forces have proved unable to track him down. The warlord flits between hide-outs in Sudan and Congo. A Ugandan raid once succeeded in capturing his walkie-talkie and epaulettes, but not Africa's most wanted man.

"The noble cause of trying Kony before the ICC has been betrayed by the failure of the United Nations, which set up the court, to arrest him, despite knowing his location," the Ugandan statement read.

The arrest warrants have dogged efforts to bring peace, as the threat of justice gives the LRA leadership no incentive to come out of the bush.

Southern Sudan's vice-president, Riek Machar, said: "Our priority is ending the war, bringing a peaceful settlement and then, after that, any legal process can take place."Any UN attempt to detain one of the indicted rebels, "would be obstructing a major process", he said.

Mr Machar was criticised recently for meeting Kony in the bush and giving him $20,000 (£11,000) and food on condition that he and his fighters left Sudan without plundering more villages. Human Rights Watch said Mr Machar should "arrest people accused of horrific war crimes, not give them food and money". Britain and the US have also urged Uganda to hand the rebels over to the ICC.

But last month Mr Machar claimed his tactics were working as more than 90% of LRA fighters had left Sudan. The UN said there had been a significant fall in LRA violence.